Monday, January 28, 2008

sick baby


My Poor Sprout is not feeling so hot. The only solution is to take a nap on Daddy.
I know everyone goes through this, but it was the first time for me, so I didn't know what to expect. We got our first taste of the grosser side of parenting this past weekend. Josser had his first stomach virus. I have now witnessed projectile vomiting up close and personal. Saturday night after dinner, Mr. Sprout began to spout. Profusely.
He'd only eaten homemade organic sweet potatoes and Black Bear whole wheat bread. Normal, everyday things we all eat and love. What could be causing this outpouring of formerly beloved foods? I grabbed the bread and checked the label. Honey Whole Wheat. Damn it! No one under one year of age is supposed to have honey these days. Apparently the risk of botulism is too great. I thought I'd poisoned my child. I called the nurses' helpline my doctor's office gave me. The very sweet (and calm) Mary answered and informed me that cooked honey wouldn't cause a problem. It's raw, botulism-containing honey that makes babies sick. "What we probably have here is a virus." said Mary. "Let me tell you what to expect." and she went on to describe 12 to 48 hours of gushing, wet, sticky, bodily fluid filled hell. This is the hard part of being a parent. I know we've been really lucky, Sprout hasn't really gotten sick a bunch this past year. He had one head cold, and in the greater scheme of things, one head cold and one pukey weekend is a miniscule amount of sick for the level of "Eh, let 'im lick the floor." parenting I practice. Seeing your only child puke all over himself, and then trying to comfort him when it totally freaks him out, is upsetting. I was so much more upset by his tearful wails then by the second wave of baby puke that went down my shirt and into my hair.
Joss had two baths on Saturday night and I had one quick shower. After we were cleanish, we sat on the couch and nursed all night. Sunday we sat around and nursed and slept. This morning he ate a bit of active -culture yogurt and a cracker. We are sticking to the mostly-mama's milk diet for the rest of today, just to be sure. He never got a fever, and has been in relatively good spirits the entire time. He just seems a bit mellow. We're through the woods on this one. I feel like we've reached a milestone. I want to commemorate this in his baby book: Thursday, January 24th: crawled forward for the first time! Saturday, January 26th: puked all over Mama for the first time! Something tells me there isn't a little scrapbooking sticker for this occasion.
In knitting news, Toni's second sock is going to have to be ripped back. I turned the heel just fine, but I don't think I picked up enough stitches for the gusset. It's a 72 stitch sock and somehow I've only got 68 after one round of decreases. The gusset stitches are the only explanation. I was so happy with the progress I'd made too. Foo.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Welcome to the disturbing club of parenting sick babies. In the past week, Syl had her first extreme diaper rash (no sleep), followed by 3 days of a high fever (no sleep), then diarreah (can't spell it, but also no sleep). I feel your pain, but he looks sadly cute in the photo! Good luck with the gross stuff!

9:40 PM  
Blogger Stacey said...

Awww poor little guy! I absolutely hate it when they're sick... SO sad! I know it helps with their immune system and is actually a normal and helpful part of life.. but the Mommy in me just can't get past the fact that my little baby is hurting:(

On another note, SarahKate! You should be writing books!! The way you describe things, even baby puke, is SO amazing!!

The photo of your little man is just precious.... sweet sweet little guy!

11:14 PM  

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